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Title: Great Expectations, or how I Went 3-4 and Had a Great TimeBy: the Wookie

It's me, it's me, the wookie, and its time once again for everybody to come with me on a little trip through the twisted halls and back alleys of my mind. This time around, I offer up some insights on IBC, how not to register your deck, how to win without a sideboard in a PTQ, and how I beat up Santa Claus.

To start, I will give some info that leads up to the qualifier in question. Friday I am sitting in my dorm room waiting on my buddy (who from henceforth shall be known as Howland) to come and pick me up. First off, Howland is late leaving Birmingham, so he arrives here in Troy a little later than expected, no worries, all is well. After about a hour and forty-five minutes of speeding, we find ourselves back in Birmingham and at the apartment of Howland and his lovely wife.

WARNING: RANT COMMENCING

Allow me to be the first to warn everyone out there about the evil cesspool that is Troy, Alabama. After spending a little over a week here I can safely say that this is the worst place in the world, well, maybe second to France (just a joke). There is absolutely nothing to do here, and forget about finding someone to playtest with, that is just wishful thinking. Furthermore, smoking a cigarette is damn near impossible with all of the bugs around here. Standing outside for more that 30 seconds is something like inviting the bugs to congregate around your immediate person. Finally, I would like to say here and now, that the dining hall on campus here is by far and away the nastiest, greasiest, and overall least healthy food on the planet. So, I guess what I am trying to say in a roundabout way is, I HATE MANASCREW.

END RANT

Ahh, thats better. Now, on to the festivities.

The Scene: New Orleans PTQ in AtlantaThe Heroes: Yours Truly and Howland the Conquer

orThe Villains: the 178 other people in attendanceThe Skinny: 180 people, 8 rounds of swiss, and top 8 drama

Now, usually this is where the tournament report would begin, however, my farce of a day doesn't warrant a report, however, I did stumble upon several insights about IBC that I shall now enlighten you with.

First of all, IBC is not a format that is dominated by one deck, or even a combination of decks. One of the largest factors in this format is consistent mana. The person who can maintain a consistent mana base over the course of 8 rounds will ultimately end up the victor, while a weaker mana base will leave one vanquished.

Contrary to popular belief, this format is not all about playing a turn 2 bear and protecting it while it goes the distance. Granted, there is a fair share of decks that aim to do just that, it is far from the only viable option. Almost any deck can be brought to the table and have a shot a winning the whole thing. Case in point, my traveling companion, and ride for the weekend, Howland, went 6-2 with the oft maligned Apocalypse

). This deck had been getting the shaft from many a player, however, Howland did not care. He felt comfortable with the deck, knew exactly how to play it, and did very well with it. Not to mention the fact that the last 2 rounds that he won he did so without the use of a sideboard.

BEGIN RANT

Here is a little piece of advice to anyone who thinks that lying, cheating, and being a shady character will gain you an advantage. Howland had played about 5 out of the 8 rounds when it occurred to him that he may not have registered his sideboard properly. Rather than do what I would consider to be the normal course of action and forget about it, he went to the judges, told them about the problem, and sure enough, he had only registered 13 cards. Now, in my opinion, a normal player would have just blown their concern off and played the last few rounds hoping not to be deck checked. However, what happens if said shady character makes top 8 and gets deck checked, MATCH LOSS. This is where Howland benefitted from doing the right thing. Instead of the usual match loss penalty, he was only awarded a game loss. When I asked him what the judge said to him he said ´´thank you for being honest.´´ Now, this statement could be taken one of two ways, it could be a judge just thanking a player for doing the right thing, or it could be the result of a judge who is tired of dealing with cheaters, rules lawyers, and just plain bad people. All that aside, Howland did the right thing, and I am proud to be his friend and to have him in my game.

END RANT

Well, now where does that leave us, oh yeah, how I beat up Santa Claus. After I dropped from the tournament I decided that a little drafting would be fun, so I signed up, payed my 12 bucks, and sat down. Just after we had opened the Invasion pack, I noticed that the man to my left looked awfully familiar. After pondering this between picking such goodies as Repulse

FinalsSanta Claus: playing with like 9 acolytes and other protection creatures (bad times for wookie).

By this time it was fairly late so Santa and I agree to a split with him getting the points. He asks if we could play one for bragging rights, so I agreed, and then proceeded to smash him in about 7 turns. Damn you fate, I knew I should have played with Santa :)~

Well, that is the story of how I went 3-4 and loved every moment of it. Any comments are welcome, and If you are interested in the deck list for the deck I played in the Qualifier just e-mail me at bigwukmike@hotmail.com

Till next time

Peace,wookie

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